Cornish Knockers

Editor’s Note: Here is an account from Evans-Wentz work with fairies in Cornwall c. 1909.

William Shepherd, a retired miner of Pendeen, near St. Just, where he has passed all his life, offers us from his own experiences under the earth the evidence which follows: Mine Piskies. ‘There are mine-piskies which are not the ‘knockers’. I’ve heard old men in the mines say that they have seen them, and they call them the ‘small people’. It appears that they don’t like company, for they are always seen singly. The ‘knockers’ are spirits, too, as one might say. They are said to bring bad luck, while the ‘small people’ may bring good luck.’